A fortune-telling princess

If Crown Prince Edsen had seen her, he would have remarked again about her putting on that fake smile of hers.

“Would it be alright if I delivered tonight’s snacks myself?”

“Of course.”

The Duke of Sorpel gently patted Camilla’s head. His eyes were filled with a mix of regret and sorrow.

“Sorry to trouble you, but would you mind?”

Camilla even sought Rania’s approval.

“Ah, yes, of course!”

Rania, evidently caught off guard, couldn’t hide her surprise. It seemed she hadn’t expected such a gesture, and her flustered expression betrayed her emotions as she stole quick glances at the Duke for reassurance.

Watching her, Camilla inwardly clicked her tongue.

‘I really didn’t want to be involved in any of this.’

She had genuinely planned to step back quietly.

‘But now, there’s no way I can let this slide.’

To think she dared to challenge me with acting? You tried to outplay me with such a pathetic attempt?

‘Fine. Let’s settle this.’

You started it.

Camilla’s smile grew even sweeter as she gazed at Rania.

“I’ll help you with that, Lin.”

“Oh my! Miss, there’s no need!”

“I

to help. Besides, I’m good at this.”

“Really, it’s fine…”

Rania had integrated herself into the Duke’s household with astonishing ease.

The first to warm to her were the servants. She won them over by calling them by name, cheerfully approaching them, and lending a hand with their duties. Her kindness was so disarming that they began doting on her, eager to give her anything they could spare.

If Camilla had tried the same thing, she would’ve been met with scorn and mockery, with people dismissing her efforts as futile given her illegitimate birth.

[“I don’t like her,”] Zeno muttered.

[“She’s… peculiar,”] Derin, the ghostly butler, agreed.

Unlike the servants, the spirits in the mansion were far less welcoming toward Rania.

Ferrol, the chef ghost, openly resented her since her presence reduced his chances to cook in the kitchen. Even Derin seemed perturbed, having noticed what Camilla did—Rania subtly and cleverly maneuvered situations to make Camilla’s position in the house more difficult.

[“So that’s why you were asking about twins the other day,”] Zeno noted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

His gaze shifted to Rania, who was hanging laundry with the maids, surrounded by laughter. Despite the lighthearted scene, his expression turned serious.

[“Identical twins? Even more so than my brother and I were? That’s unsettling.”]

The first time Camilla had seen Rania at the orphanage, she had been unable to look away.

It wasn’t Rania herself that had captivated her, but rather the spirit by her side—one that looked

like her.

The ghost’s resemblance to Rania was so uncanny that if it claimed to be her, no one would have doubted it.

[“But it has no sentience,”] Zeno explained.

He had tried speaking to the ghost to uncover its identity, but it had given no response. Its vacant gaze remained fixed on Rania, as though it existed solely to follow her.

Even other ghosts had attempted to communicate with it but to no avail. The ghost was little more than an empty shell.

Rania was an unfamiliar name in Camilla’s countless reincarnations. Not once in all her cycles of life and death had she encountered this person.

If so, it made sense. Camilla knew nothing about what happened in the world after her inevitable demise, and this could simply be the result of events playing out earlier than usual.

“Oh! Camilla!”

Spotting her from a distance, Rania ran over with her ever-bright expression.

“Where are you going?”

“Just out.”

“Can I come with you? I’m so bored today…”

“It’s personal business.”

“Oh…”

Rania’s expression quickly turned crestfallen.

“If you’re bored, why don’t you visit Father? He’s probably strolling through the mistflower garden right about now.”

“….”

“What? Something wrong?”

“N-no.”

Without giving her another glance, Camilla walked away, leaving Rania staring after her with an unreadable expression.

****

“Welcome, my lady.”

Camilla sighed as she pulled off the heavy robe she had been wearing. The warm weather made wearing such attire increasingly unbearable.

She had heard of magic that could maintain a cool temperature. Though enchanted products were available on the market, they came with a hefty price tag. Anything with “magic” attached seemed to multiply in cost.

Camilla glanced at the young man greeting her.

“Lots of people here again today,” she remarked.

“It’s because of the designs you created. They’ve been incredibly popular,” he replied.

This was the Ghost Trading Company, her own business venture focused on selling magic stones.

When the Sephra Duke suggested creating a separate store for magic stone products, Camilla had taken the idea and run with it. Now, two months since the store’s opening, it was flourishing.

“Here’s the weekly sales report,” said the man, handing her a document.

The speaker was Chris Miller, a sharp and meticulous man in his late twenties. His glasses gave him an air of cold efficiency, which was entirely accurate.

Chris served as the public face of the Ghost Trading Company, managing day-to-day operations on her behalf. His exceptional skills, as vouched for by the Duke, filled the gaps in her own knowledge of business.

“Didn’t you mention a new design earlier?” he asked.

“Yes, here.”

Camilla handed over some sketches. Recently, she had been creating new items using magic stones. After the success of a brooch enchanted with defensive magic, she decided to delve into a field she knew well—beauty.

“The whitening earrings have been selling out,” Chris noted. “We should increase production capacity as I’ve outlined here.”

The whitening earrings were her first beauty-focused product. Designed to hide blemishes and even out skin tone, they were a hit among noblewomen.

Camilla thought smugly.

Her experience as an actress, where she had modeled countless jewelry pieces, gave her a keen eye for design. Collaborating with the Empire’s finest craftsmen, she created magic stone items with a modern aesthetic.

“This design is impressive,” Chris commented as he examined the sketches.

“They’ll sell.”

The latest product was a hair ornament that changed the wearer’s hair color.

“We could even offer custom colors for those with specific requests,” Chris suggested.

“Good idea. Let’s do that.”

As expected, Chris always added value to her ideas.

“One more thing. We’ve attracted a lot of attention lately,” he warned.

Camilla frowned. The Ghost Trading Company had become a subject of curiosity among nobles. Many wondered why the Duke of Sephra would hand over such a lucrative venture.

“I’ll be careful.”

The Trading Company’s main facility was an underground space connected to a discreet townhouse. It allowed her to work with Chris away from prying eyes.

“Camilla,” Chris said, adjusting his glasses. “We won’t be able to keep this hidden forever.”

“I know.”

The business was growing faster than she had anticipated. Even with Chris acting as the figurehead, it was becoming difficult to manage everything from the shadows.

“And… about the name. Are you sure about keeping it?”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It… doesn’t inspire confidence. People joke that the Trading Company might vanish like a ghost,” Chris said.

“Oh, they’re sharp.”

“…Excuse me?”

Camilla grinned.

she thought.

She was beginning to reconsider staying at the Duke’s estate, especially with Rania’s sudden appearance.

Trading Company

Her Ghosts loved the name, and so did she. It was a perfect reflection of her enigmatic plans.